Picture this: Imagine your one dream in life was to study in Paris, France. Saving money for the trip has taken years off your life, and it’s still not enough. Through some clever maneuvering, you manage to land a free flight to France. Nine hours later, you finally land in Paris and can’t wait to start life’s next chapter. You step off the plane, and then reality sets in: This is Texas, not France.
That’s the situation at play in the new Netflix rom-com, The Wrong Paris. Miranda Cosgrove stars as Dawn, an aspiring artist from Texas who wants nothing more than to study in Paris. To afford the trip, Dawn auditions for a dating show and earns a spot on The Honeypot — think The Bachelor combined with The Real World. Because of her wish to leave her small town, one could understand why Dawn would be upset that the show is set in Paris, Texas, located less than an hour from her home.
Dawn immediately wants to leave the show and deliberately tries to get eliminated. The show’s bachelor, Trey McAllen (Pierson Fodé), has other plans, as he’s attracted to Dawn’s honesty and authenticity. The longer Dawn stays on the show, the more she falls into the show’s romantic vortex and grows feelings for Trey.
Ahead, Cosgrove and Fodé speak about the benefits of working with animals and how horses brought them closer to their characters. Plus, the stars choose the location of their next rom-com and explain the seminal moments that shaped their careers.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Digital Trends: I want to start with something Trey says during one of the dates. This line stuck out to me. “Do you ever feel so pulled in by something you’d do anything to get it?” I think that’s a meaningful line that anyone can relate to. I’ll ask you both — is there a moment in your careers where you felt pulled in by something so much that you would do anything to get it?
Miranda Cosgrove: I would say when I ended the show iCarly, I had the option of continuing to try to act or to go to college. I started acting when I was really little. The whole point was I was trying to save up money for college. That’s why my parents were like, “Oh. This [acting] is a good idea. You should give it a shot.” [Laughs] That was kind of crazy for me because it was always in the back of my head my entire life. “Oh, I’m doing this for college.” Then I realized that acting really was my passion, and I wanted to do it, so it was really hard choosing between those things.
I would say Dawn, in the movie, has a similar struggle because she thinks she has to choose between true love and her dream. Yeah, I would say going to school, I was very pulled in that direction because it was always kind of the plan, and I didn’t want to give up on that.
Pierson Fodé: I think for me it was leaving the farm behind and chasing the dream to move to LA. I didn’t know anybody out here. I sold off my cattle. I paid for my rent for a little while by doing that.
Cosgrove: I don’t like that you sold your cattle. That’s so sad.
Fodé: I know.
Cosgrove: It makes me so sad. I hate that. [Laughs]
Fodé: It does make me sad. Some of them stayed. There are a few left in my dad’s herd that are alive and kicking. I think that’s a pretty tough “call of the wild” in a lot of ways, where you just have to leave everything behind that you know and try something that you don’t know if it’s going to work out or not. And that was a big deal for me.
Speaking of farm and ranch life, what do you think movies get right about farms, and what do you think they get wrong?
Cosgrove: [Laughs] You’ll know this.
Fodé: I think the thing movies get right, in a lot of ways, is that farmers love the land, and they love the animals. I don’t know if there’s anybody that cares more about their land and their animals than farmers. When I grew up, my dad taught me everything I know about it, and the same with my mom. Everything I know about animals and the land is this beautiful art. People don’t think about it that way, but it is an art, a talent, and a learned skill.
The thing they get wrong is that we’re not all hillbillies who aren’t smart. [Laughs] There are some genius people who have farms. Listen, I got a few hillbilly cousins. It’s fine. We allow them, and we love them. Sometimes, we wear normal clothes. We don’t always wear cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. We’re just out there living our lives.
I like how you mentioned animals because I think how someone treats an animal says a lot about a person. I think it shows the better qualities we have as people. How did working with animals bring out the humanity in each of your characters?
Cosgrove: Well, I would say getting to horseback ride was one of the most fun things about making the movie. We went out there, and we rehearsed for the first couple of weeks. We got to go horseback riding a lot, and that was so much fun. I love horses. I love animals so much. Some of those scenes when we actually filmed them — they’re the kind of scenes where our characters are really connecting. when we’re on the horses. I felt that it was really nice that we got to do those scenes with the horses because I feel like horses naturally bring out a softer and more vulnerable side.
Fodé: I agree. There’s something so sweet about horses because they’re very smart animals, and they’re good judges of character almost immediately. Like you said, they brought out our excitement, and they brought out versions of us that we didn’t expect. It was just so much fun shooting with the animals.
I like the idea of shooting a movie within a movie, and in this case, shooting a movie during a TV show. You’re, in a way, playing two characters. Does that change your approach to how you developed the character in the movie?
Cosgrove: I would say with my character, she’s unapologetically herself. I didn’t really have to change myself much for the show within the show because I’m supposed to be trying to get kicked off. I think that it was really fun getting to go overboard — eating chicken wings or being gross and mean and not caring at all. That was really fun for me because I usually play characters that are very nice, and Dawn’s not like that. [Laughs] She’s definitely got an edge to her. It was really fun.
Fodé: I think for Trey, he’s also somebody that’s very straightforward — you get what you get. He’s not trying to play too much for the camera. He’s going to be himself on and off screen. The only version that you’re getting is that he’s just enjoying the chaos that’s happening around him. He’s like, “This is crazy. What a weird world I’m living in right now. I think that’s the only thing that I played a little different.
You’ve done a rom-com in an unorthodox place. You don’t think of Paris, Texas, as a place to do it. If you could set another rom-com in another unorthodox place, where would it be?
Cosgrove: That’s a good question. Somewhere you wouldn’t expect a rom-com.
Fodé: Where’s somewhere we want to go for the next movie?
Cosgrove: Why does everything seem romantic right now in my mind?
Fodé: Let’s go to Venice. The Wrong Venice.
Cosgrove: [Laughs] The Wrong Venice. Where will the wrong Venice be at?
Fodé: Venice, LA. I don’t know.
Cosgrove: We can do that.
Fodé: We’d shoot it and then sleep in our own beds. That’s where we want to do it next.
The Wrong Paris is now streaming on Netflix.
